All of the above-mentioned plans except for the regular monthly plan comes with pretty hefty discounts.

NordVPN is extremely affordable, in fact, if you compare it to ExpressVPN, NordVPN cost is without a doubt a lot cheaper.

Now granted, you can find cheaper options on the internet, however, pretty much no VPN provider in the industry is offering the same number of features and servers as NordVPN.

Personally, I recommend opting the 3-year NordVPN pricing plan. It’s much cheaper compared to other plans and I wouldn’t have to worry about my subscription expiring anytime soon.

Easy & secure payment options

NordVPN also offers some of the most flexible payment options I’ve ever seen.

Instead of just offering payment gate for a visa, MasterCard and PayPal, NordVPN goes to some great lengths at offering a wide range of diverse payment options, even including support for anonymous cryptocurrencies.

Well from now on, instead of PayPal, Adyen will manage all of NordVPN’s secure transactions.

For those of you who don’t know, Adyen is among the world’s leading payment providers. Unlike PayPal, Adyen provides a self-hosted payment system.

According to NordVPN’s official’s blog post:

“The versatility that Adyen offers and its experience with markets all over the world will help us become even more flexible and better at pursuing our goals”.

Without a doubt, PayPal has always been a pretty viable payment option. Now only time will tell how Ayden ones up them.

What do you guys think about this sudden shift? Let me know in the comments.

NordVPN Money Back Guarantee

Just like a lot of VPN providers there days, NordVPN offers a hassle-free full 30-day refund policy.

If you encounter any issues with NordVPN refund, you can go through their painless refund procedure and have your full subscription fee refunded within a week or so, at least that’s what I experienced.

According to one Reddit user, NordVPN not only responded to his refund request within 30 minutes but also refunded his money within a couple of days.

Overall, people really seem to like NordVPN’s refund policy, and so do I.

NordVPN Discontinues the 7-Day Free Trial after Being Massively Abused

NordVPN has recently taken down their extremely desirable 7-day free trial due to widespread abuse by scammers.

But this isn’t the first time NordVPN’s free trial was subject to abuse. In fact, some time back in 2018, NordVPN changed their very popular 3-day free trial to a 7-day free trial due to the fact that the 3-day trial didn’t require the users to enter credit card information.

However, considering that NordVPN free account has been discontinued for good, it seems as if the 7-day free trial didn’t prove too fruitful for the company.

According to a spokesperson of NordVPN, the abuse of their free trial was so massive that it significantly disrupted their infrastructure and overall degraded their service.

That’s truly disappointing considering that NordVPN was one of the last few VPNs that offered a free trial. All other major VPN services like PureVPN and ExpressVPN only offer a money back guarantees.

Security – Encryption & Features

NordVPN has all the right bells and whistles to help you browse the web safely and securely.

In a world where you’re never too far away from a cyber-attack, it seriously pays off to have a reliable VPN by your side with tons of security features.

If we talk about encryption, NordVPN uses 256-bit encryption, which is the strongest cipher in the industry. 256-bit encryption is overkill and has around 1.1×1077 possible combinations.

CyberSec works as a malware and ad blocker which makes sure you are protected from inadvertently opening malicious sites and other cybersecurity dangers lurking around the web. It is a great tool to have to add an extra layer of security to your web presence.

When the first time you access NordVPN, it asks whether to enable CyberSec feature. Always enable it if you want to avoid getting bombarded by pesky adware and intrusive advertisement.

In addition, the CyberSec feature will block suspicious websites or any online retailer website that it believes can infect your device.

You would need to turn this feature ON, by going into Settings and scroll down to enable CyberSec.

To conclude, it will give you 3 benefits:

Block dangerous websites

Avoid botnet control

Skip annoying ads

CyberSec proves NordVPN’s commitment to guarding user’s web security which further justifies the high position that this provider enjoys in the list of best VPN services for 2019.

Panama is not liable to share users’ information to any other country or authority if required.

This is great since NordVPN doesn’t have to abide by any mandatory data retention laws.

But…there has been few incidents in the past that make me wonder if Panama is truly free from government surveillance.

For instance, even though Panama has no known active internet surveillance programs, we do know that the Panamanian Justice department accused the former President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli for abusing privacy rights by illegal wiretapping of more than 150 people.

On top of that, the Forum of Journalists conducted a poll in 2012 in search of freedom of speech for journalists in Panama and concluded that 82% of local journalists’ freedom of expression was restricted by threats from President Martinelli.

Even though President Martinelli no longer governs Panama, I’m still not sure if there’s any possibility of the Panamanian government violating privacy and human rights in the future.

Optimistically speaking, the chances of government agencies demanding logs from NordVPN are extremely low, considering the robust logging policy of the provider.

Speed – How fast is NordVPN?

NordVPN performed quite well in my speed test. The download speed of 28.45 Mbps and upload speed of 18.61 Mbps is highly satisfactory for a base connection of 30 Mbps.

I further tested the NordVPN speeds on US and UK servers to determine how fast the provider really is.

To cut to the chase, you can consider NordVPN among the very best logless VPN in the industry.

NordVPN Customer Support

One of the biggest gripes I have with most VPN providers is with customer service. Not only are they often time technically uneducated but also painstakingly slow.

Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any such issues with Nord.

NordVPN support can be contacted in two ways, either through direct Nord VPN live chat or Email ticketing system.

Either way, the support staff of the VPN is proficient and has firsthand knowledge of the brand.

Moreover, NordVPN chat support is actually 24/7. I tested in different instances of day and it was available every time.

Best of all:

Even if you ask a relatively technical question you’ll still get a human response as opposed to copying pasted answers.

Overall I was extremely impressed by their customer support.

Passed CDT Checklist

CDT is an organization that fights for global online civil liberties and human rights. It is a staunch advocate of free and open internet.

It has created a checklist for online consumers in choosing the right VPN, to which it calls ‘signals of trustworthy VPNs’.

It has set out a few questions for all VPN service providers. If consumers could find reasonable answers to these questions related to NordVPN, then they should be satisfied with their security.

Here are some of the questions:

What is the public facing and full legal name of the VPN service and any parent or holding companies?

There were rumors that NordVPN was in fact owned by the Lithuania-based data-mining company called Tesonet.

The rumors were laid to rest when we dig deeper. NordVPN is indeed one of many Tesonet’s many partners. But does it make you worry about your data and online privacy?

It should not!

Tesonet protected users’ privacy by registering the company in Panama (that doesn’t have data retention laws) where it is not legal to demand data by authorities.

The relationship between NordVPN and Tesonet doesn’t affect users, neither does it pose any concern.

Does the company, or other companies involved in the operation or ownership of the service, have any ownership in VPN review websites?

NordVPN doesn’t have any stake in a VPN review website, that’s for sure. But, it is hard to deny that NordVPN controversy with Trust Pilot was a hard pill to swallow.

NordVPN is accused of submitting fake reviews on Trustpilot. The review website then removed all the fake scores, leading to NordVPN rating drop down to 5 from 9.

What is the service’s business model (i.e., how does the VPN make money?

NordVPN earns revenues from their sole business model i.e. from VPN subscriptions. NordVPN does not sell data to third-parties since they are based in Panama, that doesn’t require you to retain consumers’ data.

Warrant Canary

NordVPN has introduced warrant canary which is a statement that is regularly published confirming that they have not received a secret warrant, gag order, subpoenas, or national security letters from the government.

In the US and other jurisdictions that fall under 5, 9, and 14 eyes countries, the government can serve ISPs, companies, and VPN service providers with secret warrants.

These warrants are designed to force companies to hand over any record or detail about a customer for investigation.

At the same time, companies are forbidden to inform users about such a request.

This is where a Warrant Canary comes in to play. NordVPN has a 3 line statement published on their website which states:

We have NOT received any National Security letters;

We have NOT received any gag orders;

We have NOT received any warrants from any government organization.

NordVPN hasn’t received any warrants so far as of July 3rd, 2019. You find this information at the very bottom of their about us page.

Even if they did, NordVPN promises NEVER to hand over users’ data because they have none. They are based in Panama where gag orders and warrants cannot be legally obtained.

Audit report

For even more transparency, NordVPN even offers an independent report of their company.

The audit was performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich, Switzerland, which is one of the world most renowned auditing firms.

This makes NordVPN’s audit report 100% legit and trustworthy.

In order to read NordVPN’s Audit report, you’ll need to login to your user account on NordVPN’s website, as it is not publically available for everyone.

Terrible transparency – Who Owns NordVPN, No One Knows

When it comes to disclosing the people running the business, NordVPN is anything but transparent. The only thing NordVPN publicly discloses is their jurisdiction of operation, that’s about it.

However, as far as the actual stakeholders or owners of the company are concerned, they don’t disclose anything about it.

Unlike CyberGhost, NordVPN also doesn’t offer any transparency report. There’s no way of knowing whether they comply with law enforcement or not.

What’s even worse, when I shot them an email for my transparency guide, they didn’t felt the need to get back to me. The lack of transparency makes me wonder what they might be hiding from their users.

NordVPN Trust Pilot Controversy

Let’s be honest, no one like fake reviews. Yet, on 6th August 2018, Trustpilot notices unusual activity under NordVPN’s review panel.

Upon further investigation, it found out that some users were submitting fake NordVPN reviews with 5-star ratings.

The incident significantly tainted the reputation of NordVPN, since the company was solely responsible for managing its review panel.

Following the incident, Trustpilot immediately deleted all fake NordVPN reviews and published a statement on NordVPN’s official Trustpilot page.

Currently, NordVPN has a two-star rating on Trustpilot.

Compatibility – Apps and supported devices

NordVPN is compatible with almost every device you can imagine. You can use it on iOS, Mac, Windows, Android, Linux,browser and on a bunch of the other devices.

Their Windows app has considerably improved since the release of their new updated app.

The same is true for its browser extension and offers another convenient method to protect your browsing sessions.

The usability of NordVPN apps is outstanding and the apps are extremely simple and easy to use.

It is pretty much self-explanatory when it comes to changing basic settings and making a connection to servers of your choice.

As such, no user should have trouble figuring out how to use NordVPN.

In addition to offering support of mobile and desktops, NordVPN is also compatible with certain routers. However, the setup process can get a little too technical.

If you’re new to setting up VPNs on routers, you might find this guide useful.

Since NordVPN offers six simultaneous connections, you can protect multiple compatible devices at the same time.

Abdul Rehman

Author

Abdul Rehman's Biography :

Abdul Rehman is a simple Tech savvy bloke with a neck for writing. Monday to Friday, he enjoys delving down in to the inner workings of privacy and security of top-tier VPN providers. Nevertheless, on the weekend he is a bit modest and simply loves spending time with his dog.

58 Responses to NordVPN Review 2019

xcbk3says:

March 13, 2019 at 1:48 am

I don’t know how they did it but there is some huge conspiracy regarding NordVPN. Everyone gives them a 10/10 perfect score and offer coupons which makes it seem too good to be true, well it is. Have gigabit internet? not anymore you don’t. prepare to be limited to downloading at 1.5mbps across the board. this has nothing to do with traffic or server or locations, there is a straight up cap on speed. the congestion will factor into the stability of that “speed”, but it will inevitably fall thanks to the auto connect algorithm. anyone having too good of an experience will get bombarded with the next wave of people auto connecting, should your experience be too good.

I never had this kind of experience, ever, with PIA. There were no hard caps on speeds and you could roulette yourself into actually getting on a good server which reflected your speed. My stupid self believed all the hype and ended up committing for 3 freakin years because it was only $99. Was such a terrible mistake.

Hey there, Truly disappointed to hear you had such a terrible experience with NordVPN. In our testing, NordVPN performed exceptionally well, however, since you might be looking for an alternative, I suggest you checkout PureVPN review.

I like NordVPN app. Using it 3 years, they improved a lot of things here, add thousands of new servers all around the world, more useful features as cyber sec, smart play and created apps for streaming services.

The profile(?) page has abbreviations and esoteric terms, I am sure, are meaningless to the average user. The support page has a loop, so that if the question is not answered, loops back ad infinitum. Tried support; it has no intelligible way to add an ISP other than the few preferred. Much frustration trying to utilize the program, or, get help. The 24/7 support does not have chat, Email access, or, a phone number. How pray tell, does one use the VPN? My desktop has the NordVPN icon, but clicking on it does nothing. The tutorial, as they say in the vernacular, Sucks! There is no tutorial. If I can not use NordVPN, kindly refund my money, or, I will challenge the charge if it appears in my charge account. Nick M.

Long time NordVPN user. My biggest problem with NordVPN is the lack of a good Linux client. Of course, setting up OpenVPN is not a big deal, but you will not benefit from dynamic server selection that picks a server that is not overloaded. It doesn’t look anything like that is on the roadmap so I am probably going to try ExpressVPN when my subscription expires. They seem to have solid Linux support.

There is no almost Linux support. The link for CLI app reffers to nordvpn.0.0.1.deb package. When I found on their ftp ver 1.0.6.deb. The app is Command Line Interface only, automaticaly chooses your remote server if no params. My impression that it is very beginner stage made, like just to fill the gap. The Network-Manager OpenVPN plug-in drop list supports only about 40 servers, you need to choose from their 5000+ servers. NO GUI app for Linux !!!

Android app is very low profile as well, no Kill Switch, sudden drops.

My rating to NordVPN after 8 months of use is about 6/10, tried it on many devices and Op.Systems

Hey Vendetta, Thanks for pointing that out. I did got a chance to tryout their Linux app and you’re right, it is definitely not up to their standards. NordVPN should fix this issue ASAP. The Android app on the other hand worked great for me. Don’t know why you’re facing sudden drops. Just for reference, i use NordVPN on my galaxy S8+.

Wow, the comments here are really merciless. My experience however has been positive, so either these people here are shills or extremely unlucky. Furthermore webRTC leaks most likely mean you have some malware downloaded and has nothing to do with quality of service… IF you are already compromised before connecting to a server how in the world you could become secure after connecting?

NordVPN’s connection used to break quite often (now it’s getting better), and this does not depend on the “PC-ability” of the user. I’ve also experienced blackouts lasting even days. And c’mon, their Windows client Sucks, looks like the work of a child. Their linux “client” is nothing else than openvpn, that you must install, configure and run by yourself. But this, being the work of someone else, at least works!!

Friendly customer care department and big advantage they have live chat available 24/7 because some main players have just tickets system and you have to wait for hours for a reply and then, again and again, tons of time for each reply. Speeds are just perfect near ISP. Of course it depends on how far away the nearest server but from over 1100 you could find the best for you. And it’s quite the only one which still works with US Netflix

Between March and May this service was very good. June rolled around and something changed, the servers would just kill the data stream while remaining connected. sometimes it would take hours, other times minutes. some days the service is unusable as the loss of data stream would be so frequent nothing was usable. I have a ticket with Nord over 120 entries long, all I get is continuous change of techs who do not read the thread and request what has already been done. the replies from tech are now averaging over a week. between friends and family whom I recommended Nord to, 9 in all, we are all experiencing the same problem. this ranges from Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara Ontario, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, and West Virginia, and all but one have open tickets, Nord says I’m the only one with this problem.

Really?? even when I send them the ticket numbers of the others they insist I’m the only one. I got a 3 day trial with HMA 2 weeks ago and did not have a single loss of the data stream. same with IPVanish last week, so the problem is with Nord AFAIC. Nord does not the will, or expertise to fix this and last week refused to refund the unused part of the 2 years I paid for. they have no phone number and refuse to call, so you are stuck with chats which lead to a waste of time, and their ticket system which they reply to when someone else in their tech team decides to reply (11 to date).

I have access to 3 different isp services and public wifi, the data stream dies on all, and on all my devices, pc, ipad, iphone, android phone, android box, and xbox.

I have been with 7 different VPN providers over the years, this one has to be the worst so far. I chose nord because they are away from the 14 eyes, and the 1 month I took before signing up for 2 years was flawless.

You forgot to tell to the people that NORDVPN is not useful for watching netxflix in linux (almost you sacrifice A LOT performance using a stupid VM).

Smart Play, not available in Linux, is secure proxy service that helps to overcome geographical restrictions put on by several websites. Smart Play re-routes the user’s requests through a server located at a place where access to such blocked websites is allowed. This makes the websites think the user is physically present in such place, thereby granting it the access.

I am active NordVPN user and also their beta tester. So I can say, that those guys know what they are doing. Nord is really safe. Also they put huge effort on Netflix. I’ve tested several VPNS when was trying to access USA Netflix. Many of them say the work with Netflix, but in reality only Nord showed good result.

Tor hides all your internet traffic by wrapping your connection into 3 different layers. It’s like an onion where these layers are stripped as they pass through each node. The only node where your browser activity is known is at the exit node. By adding a VPN to the framework and using Tor, you can hide your traffic from being read by anyone. With a Tor + VPN, you hide the traffic at the exit node as well, making it impossible (almost) for anyone to see what you are up to.

Well, if you are worried that your VPN will read your internet traffic then you should change your VPN. That’s why there is a big deal about whether the VPN keeps logs or not, the payment method it offers (Bitcoin instead of credit card) so that no records can be linked back to you. Running a Tor locally through your VPN is some issues. For starters, you will be running the basic SSL connection with all its disadvantages and passing of keys. In addition to that, your entry point will be known as you will be running everything through the VPN and all your internet traffic from the laptop, PC, Smartphone and whatever will be passing through a single place, the VPN server. So it really doesn’t matter if you use a Tor or a VPN, your ISP will know that you are trying to hide your IP address and internet activities. On the other hand, using a double VPN makes much more sense. Well, if you don’t trust your VPN or the entry point of Tor, then using a double VPN can provide you some security. But, Tor doesn’t hide your traffic beyond the basic SSL and since your internet traffic is passing through multiple VPN servers, you are just creating a lot of latency for yourself. A better way protecting your traffic from being read by your VPN is connecting to your destination with SSL through the VPN.

As much as I love Nord, you shouldn’t really be using their TOR VPN. It’s better to use their double VPN along with Tor, instead of just using TOR VPN. What Tor does is that it decrypts your VPN traffic and then encrypts it again before sending it over Tor network. Using a double VPN means you add more security and 2 hops before it reaches Tor.

I think their Tor VPN is really useful and I have been using it for a while. However, the lack of information and documentations available for servers is a bit irritating. I mean, it would be good that the pushed routes are a bit more concerned about the IP address of the destination server, instead of assuming that you want all your traffic to be pushed through 0.0.0.0/1 route and then to the outside.

I have been using NordVPN on Linux and I am very happy with their service. They now offer VPN clients for Android and iOS devices as well but previously they only offered it on Windows. But won’t have any problems in using NordVPN on any device by using the .ovpn configuration file. I am using their service on Linux and really like it how they offer CA and TLS certificates for download separately along with .ovpn files. This makes it easier for me to configure the service with Linux Network Manager. However, one problem that I faced was that the zip file didn’t contain some of the servers they offered. If they can fix this then NordVPN is a top notch service. Their customer support is also very good and the encryption levels are also decent. They offer AES 256 encryption and RSA 4096 bit for key exchange, which is pretty good considering it’s the strongest encryption out there. If I am not wrong, they only offer TCP 443 and UDP 1194 ports but it also offers LZO Compression, which is a good sign. I only wish they also provided lower encryption keys for mobile devices so that the battery doesn’t run out quickly. The speeds are also decent but very inconsistent at times. Not all servers are quick at all times as some are fast but others are slow. Although they offer wide selection of servers, I really don’t think their servers are top notch. Their performance can be seen during the holiday season as during Christmas, there was immense load on servers and I got very slow speeds. However, it really depends on your connection as well. If you have a fast connection then it should not matter but if your internet connection isn’t lightening fast then you can face bottlenecks. NordVPN is pretty big on preserving its users privacy as they claim to keep no logs of your internet activities. This is a good sign and also that the company is based in Panama, making it free any kind of foreign jurisdiction. Also, they accept Bitcoin as payment which good for privacy. You can pay for their anonymously. One important note, NordVPN offers its own Tor over VPN service. Although having a double VPN does beef up your security but I wouldn’t advice to use the Tor VPN offered by Nord. This is because your internet traffic will be decrypted before sending it over Tor, so it kinds of defeats the purpose of having double security.

I recently bought NordVPN a week ago and the speeds are awesome. Previously I used PIA (Private Internet Access) for more than a year but there were many problems with it, and I really didn’t like their user interface, it was ugly to say the least. I selected NordVPN because it’s cheaper than PIA and it offers great servers options. I can connect to any location of my choice and access different streaming services. Like if you want to watch Netflix USA, there are servers available for that and you can enjoy your favorite shows and movies in high quality. The security and anonymity provided by NordVPN is also pretty good. The protocols allow me to switch between high security to high performance streaming. You can check out NordVPN using their 3 day free trial by contacting their customer support. If I remember correctly, I signed up for their service but didn’t pay yet. I then wrote an email to their customer support and they activated my 3 day free trial.

Brian This our policy, you agreed with our terms of service upon purchasing your account.

Yana This is the most disgusting site vpn that I’ve ever met I will write reviews about you as the worst vpn provider. It’s outrageous! I will write about this in all forums and blogs! You stole my money!

Brian We do not, our terms of service clearly states that we do not refund bitcoin. If you have any complaints, I would suggest to contact our sales team by email at support@nordvpn.com

Yana Do you you have no right can decide to return the money or not! You provide a service – I pay the money. The service is not necessary – you return me the money! You illegally hold my money! You’ll soon see at each site where you are – a review of your service.

Brian No, we don’t. Everything is legal. We provide money back guarantee for 30 days, however payments via bitcoin are not refundable. I can’t provide a refund against our ToS, however you can write a complaint to our sales team at support@nordvpn.com

Yana You know yourself, what you say? You decide to return money or not for yourself! Unless it can be legally ?! Why do I have someone to complain and write email, to take my money! My money!

Brian You paid your money for the service and agreed to the terms of service before making your payment. These terms are the same now as they were when you have purchased the subscription.

Yana Your terms are illegal! Who gave you the right to make such rules? Do you think that strange incomprehensible rules like your site to be perceived above the law? What you are kind of nonsense? There is a law on consumer protection! And I do not care what you have there for the rules! You submit to this law! I do not care for your rules, when speech goes about the law. And the law requires you to give me back my money! No matter which way I paid for!

I dont know how they can be most recommended logless VPN for god sick. – They leak your IPv6 – No switch kill for internet connection — but worst of all THEY LEAK YOUR REAL IP— If you using Windows (7) like me you are fuck up. I was surfing all day and i normally do not turn off my PC but only switch it to sleep mode and even I set automatic reconnect and EVERY TIME i turn my PC into sleep mode and then woke up my PC their official application showed me that i am “CONNECTED” with green status but in real i was not connected and all of time i was surfing under MY REAL ADDRESS.

NordVPN claim to be offering 70%. On their registration form they enter the code “70off” automatically. I tried to register for what appears to be a great offer. After clicking register it simply says “ERROR Coupon code “70off” is not valid use a valid coupon only”. Its their own code, they inserted! I then had to suffer what they claim to be “customer service” having a futile discussion with this imbesile with a purile attitude and contradictory statements:

*** Molly joined the chat ***

(09:44:14)

Molly: Hello. How may I help you today?

(09:44:19)

Visitor 39343896: Your site isn’t working properly

(09:45:21)

Visitor 39343896: I’m trying to sign up and your site is offering 70% off, its automatically putting that into the registration process with the code “70off”, but when I press register is say the coupon is not valid.

(09:45:42)

Visitor 39343896: Very frustrating when its my first experience of your service, not a great start

(09:45:54)

Molly: Yes, we are aware off this. Sale most likely ended and someone forgot to take the banner down. Sorry for the inconvenience.

(09:46:10)

Visitor 39343896: It says he sale doesn’t end for 3 days!

(09:46:13)

Molly: You may email us at support@nordvpn.com and we might still offer you a dealbreaker like 70% discount.

(09:47:08)

Visitor 39343896: I’m expecting more seeing as its still on your site, I’m notifying you off the issue, its my first experience with you and I spent 5 minutes writing a message before you came online

(09:47:25)

Visitor 39343896: I don’t expect to take up more of my time when I can easily go to a competitor

You sound like a real douche. NordVPN is actually really stable and very easy to setup. If you’re leaking your real IP, then take two seconds to actually read up why and how to fix it. It has nothing to do with NordVPN, your system is most likely leaking WebRTC requests which you’d know you have to fix if you’d taken two seconds to research.

I’ve used NordVPN for 8 months and have no issues. The problems you’ve describe all sound like you have no idea how to use a PC, they are not NordVPN issues. You should simply stop using PCs since they’re obviously too hard for you to grasp. Use a public library from now on or ask someone to teach you PC basics.